Crown cap having a protective skirt



Feb. 24, 1970 c. H. MYER 3, 7,

CROWN GAPHAVING A PROTECTIVE SKIRT Filed Oct. 28, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR CALEB H. MYER ATTORNEY Feb. 24, 1970 C. H. MYER CROWN CAP HAVING A PROTECTIVE SKIRT Filed Oct. 28, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENFOR CALEB H. MYER Y) BY fiXy y \1.

ATTORNEY United States Patent Ofiice 3,497,098 CROWN CAP HAVING A PROTECTIVE SKIRT Caleb H. Myer, Columbia, Pa., assignor to Armstrong Cork Company, Lancaster, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Oct. 28, 1968, Ser. No. 770,989 Int. Cl. B65d 41/10 US. Cl. 215--39 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A crown particularly adapted for use with a liquid refreshment container wherein the crown is adapted to be turned off the threads on the container or pried ofl the container with a bottle opener. The crown has a smooth edge configuration so that it can be readily grasped by the fingers for turning without the fingers being cut by the sharp edges which are normal with a conventional serrated crown. The smooth edge configuration for the crown is secured by forming a lip portion on the peripheral edge of the crown. The crown may be formed 'by a forming die which provides the lip configuration at the same time it crimps the skirt of the crown, or a conventional crown may be forced through a sizing die to provide the lip configuration.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The invention relates to a new and improved crown particularly adapted for bottles. Specifically, it is adapted for use with crowns which may either be pried off the bottle or twisted off the bottle.

Description of the prior art In the prior art the crown is provided with an outwardly extending skirt or flange, and the metal is so thin that the outstanding edges are sharp and may injure the hands of persons who may have a need to grasp the crown. It is the need to obviate the sharp outstanding edges of prior crowns that has caused the development of the protective lip structure of the invention herein.

In Patent No. 3,198,369, an attempt was made to form a protective lip or edge for a crown to eliminate the sharp outstanding edges of the prior art crowns. This particular structure required the rolling in of an inwardly directed protective lip for the purpose of removing the sharp edges. The peripheral region of the finished crown still maintains a generally scalloped configuration. This scalloped configuration and inwardly directed lip was formed by the use of a serrated ram coacting with the serrations of the forming die. This requires the keying of the serrated ram relative to the forming die. Such a feature is extremely difiicult to maintain and forfeits all the advantages of the floating ram press which is the standard machine in the crown manufacturing art today.

The particular two methods set forth in this case overcome the deficiencies of the particular method of manufacturing the crown of Patent No. 3,198,369. One method utilizes the conventional free floating rain to form the crown in a single cycle of the press. The second method permits the making of conventional crowns and the modification of these conventional crowns to the smooth edge configuration only as required by marketing demands. The inwardly directed lip with scalloped edge configuration has been replaced by a very simple lip configuration with a smooth surface forming a circular configuration.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention is directed to a crown which has at its peripheral edge a protective lip formed by turning downwardly the normally horizontally extending skirt peripheral edge. This down-turned protective lip removes the normal sharp edge configuration normally associated with a conventional crown. A line passing through the center of the cross section of the protective lip and parallel to the axis of the crown, when moved through the full 360 circumference of the crown will form a cylinder having a true circular cross section as compared to the prior art structures which will generate a scallop construction. This crown configuration may be formed by taking the conventional crown and passing it through a crown sizing die to form the protective lip. This permits the modification of the conventional crowns to the protective lip crowns based upon the need of the marketplace. The second method of manufacture provides for the direct forming of the crown with its skirt portion and protective lip in a one-cycle operation of a conventional free floating ram crown punch press.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in side elevation in cross section illustrating the crown;

FIG. 2 is a section through the crown mounted on a bottle;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the forming punch and die prior to crown formation;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the structure of FIG. 3 after the crown formation; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an alternate method of manufacturing the crown using a sizing die.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The crown 2 of the present invention is formed of sheet metal and includes a fiat top portion generally indicated at 4 which is closed and which is in the nature of the bottom of a cup. This cup has the peripheral flange turned at the edges thereof as indicated by '6. The annular flange 6 extends into an outwardly extending portion generally indicated by the reference numeral 8, which is referred to as the skirt of the crown. This much of the structure is conventional in the normal prior art crown.

However, in the ordinary crown the skirt normally continues outwardly in a generally horizontal direction to form the sharp edge configuration which is found objectionable in those crowns which are meant to be turned oft a bottle. To eliminate the sharp edges, a protective lip 10 is formed by turning downwardly the peripheral edge of the crown.

Referring to FIG. 2, it will be seen that when the crown is crimped to the bottle a sharp edge configuration is eliminated. The bottle 14 has an upper surface 16 which is engaged by the sealing liner 12 of the crown. A shoulder 18 on the bottle serves as the retaining surface for the crown, and the crown is crimped around this retaining surface. The outside surface 20 of the bottle extends downwardly from the shoulder 18. The downwardly directed protective lip 10, after it is crimped to the bottle, is now directed towards the surface 20 of the bottle. Consequently, the normally sharp edge which would exist in the conventional crown has now been directed towards the surface 20 of the bottle, and there exists only a smooth surface to be engaged by one attempting to twist the crown off the bottle.

The protective lip 10 lies fully in a cylinder which is generated around the longitudinal axis of the crown. Consequently, the protective lip structure 10 forms a smooth circle as compared to the normal scalloped configuration associated with the prior art structures.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show the apparatus for the forming of the crown of FIG. 1 in a conventional single cycle operation of a punch press. A blanking die 24 coacts with a punch 26 to stamp and form the crown. Sheet metal is fed between the blanking die 24 and punch 26. The

3 forming die 27 within die 24 has a cavity 28 which is used to form the crown. The punch 26 is formed of two parts; namely, a stamping punch 30 and a forming ram 32.

Referring to FIG. 4, the stamping punch 30 is shown in its lowermost position where it coacts with the blanking die 24 to stamp a circular blank of metal out of the sheet metal 22. After the circular blank has been stamped by the punch 30 coacting with the die 24, the forming ram 32 moves downward to the position shown in FIG. 4 to coact with the die cavity 28 of the forming die 27 to form the crown of FIG. 1. It will be seen that coaction between the ram 32 with its lip forming sleeve 36 and the die cavity 28 forms the protective lip at the same time as the top and skirt portion of the crown are formed. The forming ram 32 is the conventional free floating ram which is not keyed in any way to the configuration of the forming die 28 and, therefore, is free floating and capable of movement independent of the stamping punch 30 both in a longitudinal and rotational direction.

FIG. 5 discloses a second and simpler technique for forming the crown of FIG. 1. The crowns formed by the structure of FIGS. 3 and 4 will be formed with the protective lip at the same time the crown structure is formed. It may be desirable to produce only the conventional prior art sharp edge crowns and modify these to provide the protective lip structure. The apparatus of FIG. 5 will carry out this modification. The conventional prior art crown 2' is fed through a sizing die 40 by a male plunger or by a punch or ram to alter the sharp, generally horizontal, edge configuration to the upwardly directed protective lip portion 10 yielding the crown 2 of this invention.

The aforesaid two methods provide a crown with a smooth configuration, and this crown may be made with conventional crown forming machinery without the use of any elaborate modifications thereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A crown adapted to be applied to a bottle, said crown having a top surface with a downwardly depending skirt configuration, a liner formed on the interior of the top portion of the crown, the skirt portion extending generally downwardly and outwardly, a protective lip structure formed on the peripheral edge of the skirt structure, said protective lip structure prior to being applied to a bottle extending generally downwardly and forming the edge of the skirt structure into a generally circular configuration which would lie within a cylinder generated around the longitudinal axis of the crown, said lip structure being devoid of any indentations, whereby said crown, when mounted on a bottle, will provide a smooth edge structure when the crown is gripped in an attempt to remove the crown from the bottle by twisting the crown off the bottle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS GEORGE T. HALL, Primary Examiner 

